


Ours - Mileven

by Once_In_A_Lifetime_Or_4Ever



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Cute, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-11
Updated: 2018-02-13
Packaged: 2019-02-01 01:51:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12694593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Once_In_A_Lifetime_Or_4Ever/pseuds/Once_In_A_Lifetime_Or_4Ever
Summary: Small bits of El and Mike's life. Including our fave stranger things cast, but later on. First chapter, a look at the Snowball dance. :)Cute fluff everywhere!





	1. A Continuation of the Snowball Dance

Mike still could not believe that El was here, that she was holding onto his neck and swaying to the music in the Hawkin’s Middle School gym. 

How Hopper had gotten her out of her hiding place for a night still amazed him, especially after their spat at the Byer’s home that dark night when El had finally come home, to Hawkins, to him. 

He still thought back to that moment when their eyes met and every bit of pain he held inside just banished. Her eyes, the window to her soul reflected what he himself was feeling. Relief. To know that she was safe and still alive, he had hoped that she was alive but to see her standing there, it was everything. In his subconscious he knew he would have to tread carefully after all the bad things that had happened to El.

And now here with her in his embrace, he knew that they were meant to be together. A year had been enough to mature his feelings for her; she was no longer just a crush. His longing for her for those 353 days made him realize that he loved her. Even if he was “too” young to feel this, he knew in his heart that he would do anything to protect her, to be with her.

“Mike,” her soft-spoken voice brought him out of his thoughts, he lifted his eyes to her and smiled, “El?”

“Could we-?” She gestured to the doors leading into the hallway. He realized that maybe she need to take a breather so he nodded and lead her out of the mass of dancing bodies towards the double doors.

“Did you want a drink of water, or to use the bathroom?” Mike asked but El quickly shook her head and made her way to the stairs and sat on the second step. Mike followed and just waited to see what she had on her mind.

“Mike? Are we friends?” El asked and Mike’s eyes quickly widen. His heart stopped and he began to worry about why her mind was stuck on that.

“Of course! Why, um, did you think we weren’t?” Mike asked feeling weird by the question. How could El doubt his friendship, he had asked her to the Snowball dance after all- and then his mind understood what she was asking. 

Mike got up and reached for El’s hand and pulled her gently so she would stand. With her on the first stair it made them more even in height and Mike was able to look at her without needing to bend down so far.

“El,” he said and when she refused to lift her eyes from their clasped hands, Mike let go of one of her slender hands and touched his fingers to her chin and lifted her head. The look in her eyes broke his heart and he knew that he had to fix the misunderstanding quickly.

“Um, El we are friends, but I um, I like you in different way. Do, um, do you remember last year? What we talked about?” Mike stuttered as he blushed thinking about how awkward he had been in kissing her, he could feel his face getting hot.

“Yes,” El whispered looking at him.

“Well, I really like you which is um why I, um,” Mike stuttered trying to convey his feelings but really embarrassed to say them out loud so awkwardly. 

“I kissed you then and I kissed you now at the dance. El I really like kissing you and um, I want to be able to do that but only if you want me too.” He said quickly and feeling satisfied with himself when El started to nodded her head slightly and smiling.

“Mike, I want that too. Does that mean you’re my boyfriend now?” She asked and Mike felt flutters in his stomach and started smiling because he thought it would be a while before he could ask her to be his girlfriend. 

“Yes, if you want me to b-” He got caught off when El ripped her hands from his and threw them on his shoulder and dove in to kiss him.

Mike was startled but for just one moment and then started to kiss her back, his arms reaching out to embrace her and he knew things would work out, with him and El better then he thought.

They broke apart to breath and Mike looked at her. She was so beautiful, flushed because of their kiss, her eyes twinkling and the best smile in the world. That smile that was reserved only for him and he smiled back.

“El, you’re so beautiful,” Mike said and he saw her smile get brighter.

“Thank you, Mike, you’re beautiful too,” She responded and Mike blushed and gently said, “Um El? Boys aren't really called beautiful.”

Her brows furrowed, “Why not?” Mike laughed at her confusion and quickly explained.

“Girls are pretty and beautiful. Guys are cute or handsome, it’s just how people describe one another.” Mike said as he rubbed her back, as they were still embracing.

“Okay, Mike I think you are the most handsome of all.” She said and giggled and then let go of Mike and stepped down the stairs and grabbed his hand.

“Let’s go dance Handsome,” She said and Mike followed her and kept smiling.


	2. Their First Sleepover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for a little rebellion. Some fluffy Mileven fluff and some desperation from Mike.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, new chapter. Hope you all like it. Thanks, and enjoy!

Their first sleepover…

It had been two weeks plus a day since the Snow Ball and Mike was pretty sure he was going to die. It had been 15 days without a peep from the chief and they had agreed on 2 weeks. 2 weeks so he could know if she was okay or to talk to her or to see her.

It had been 360 hours since he last locked eyes with her and had been able to be in her presence. 

21,600 minutes since he had felt her soft smooth skin meet his skin.

1,296,000 seconds since her eyelashes had fluttered on his cheek as both leaned in to kiss. 

Yeah he had counted, he was self-aware that he was one of the biggest nerd in his grade, but that didn’t matter now. All he wanted was to be treated with some respect, and the chief had failed once again. So Mike was now going to treat him with the same courtesy he had shown him.

So this is how Mike found himself after school at the Byers house talking to Jonathan. 

“Yeah, Nancy took El shopping today a so I wanted to ask you if you could do me a favor Jonathan,” Mike said looking at Jonathan. Jonathan had been helping Will with his homework. They, the Byers, were still clutching onto Will to make sure he was safe and sound. I mean after all the trauma he knew why they acted the way they did.

“Sure, what can I do for you?” Jonathan asked looking up to briefly meet Mike’s eyes.

“I got um, El a present,” Mike could feel his face start to heat up. This always happened when he spoke of El to anyone, it was because he knew he must sound so mushy but he didn’t care.

“, And I was wondering if you could drop it off? I was going to walk home since I came with both you and Will today and didn’t bring my bike.” Mike finished.

Jonathan still helping Will nodded and then kept helping Will. Mike slacked in his seat. He had failed to convince Jonathan to take him to El’s hiding place.

But Jonathan had other plans, “I’ll drop you off Mike, let’s get going it’s going to be late. Will let’s g-“

“Hi honey sorry I’m a little late. Hi Mike are you staying for dinner?” Mrs. Byers said as she came rushing in and cutting Jonathan off.

“Hi, Mrs. Byers, sorry Jonathan is going to take me home. Maybe next time?” He said as Joyce Byers just nodded and went to put the groceries away.

“Will, come help me please,” Joyce, said and Jonathan just shrugged his shoulders and yelled quietly a Bye to his mother and younger brother. He urged Mike to hurry and they both left.

As Jonathan started the car, Mike was in a really sad mood. It would be another 24 hours before he could go to the police station and demand to see El but Jonathan instead of heading to his house started to take some back roads and Mike perked up and started paying attention. 

Jonathan looked to the side and carefully said as if trying to also convince himself, “It’s faster if we drop El’s gift and then I take you home. Just don’t tell anyone.”

Mike made sure to rapidly nod his head and thanked the stars for his good luck.

The only sounds in the car were those of Mike’s rapid breathing and Jonathan quietly singing along to the radio.

When they came to a little clearing Jonathan stopped the car and got out, motioning Mike to follow.

Getting to El’s infamous hiding place was hard, it was a labyrinth but Mike made sure to follow along and make places in his mind. He even made sure to watch out for the tripwire.

When they finally made it to the cabin, Mike rejoiced inside and Jonathan quickly asked for the gift and motion for Mike to stay put. He walked around and left the gift behind some leaves and out of his jacket he pulled a piece of paper and left it with the badly wrapped present.

Once they safely made it to his car Mike asked about the paper.

“What was the page for?”

Jonathan answered, “ I just wrote it was for El to open. I’ll tell Nancy tomorrow so that she can tell El that I left her a package from you by the cabin.”

Mike nodded and stayed silent all the way to his house. As soon as they made it to the Wheeler residence Mike thanked Jonathan and was so happy to see that Nancy was not yet home. He hopped out of the car and raced inside but made sure to not let anyone know about his presence. 

He waited 20 minutes before he raced down. Both his parents were in the living room with Holly and didn’t notice him come in or out.

He grabbed his bike and dashed towards El. It had been now 1,364,833 seconds since he had last seen her and he would rather remove his limbs then be separated from her any longer than another full day.

He maneuvered his way through the forest and made sure to be as quiet as possible.

Once he made it behind some bushes close to the cabin he waited. 

He had told his mother earlier that morning that he would be going over to Will’s and if he didn’t make it back from dinner he would stay over, so he knew he had the perfect alibi for tonight.

5 minutes had passed when he heard some rustling from his right and he heard his sister’s voice.

“Make sure to wash colors together, darks separate as well as whites. You don’t need a white bra to go pink the first time you wear it.” Nancy trailed of giggling with the cute 13-year-old next to her.

Mike felt hot. He was not supposed to know this stuff about it El, they were too young to be thinking this stuff or at least acknowledging it. Mike just tried to make himself smaller behind the bush.

El and Nancy made it to the porch and El unlocked the door with her mind and walked inside with Nancy trailing behind.

Mike noticed that they had been carrying a nice amount of bags, probably clothes for El and maybe shoes. As Mike thought of all the ways El would look he heard Nancy call out goodbye and close the door.

As Nancy walked out the door, Mike made sure to look at the now illuminated cabin and how El’s shape moved around and about.

Mike could wait no longer and raced towards the cabin’s front door and knocked quietly.

Mike felt the lights flicker slightly and quickly whispered her name.

“El,” he breathed, “It’s me, Mike.” And with that, the door burst open and Mike and El looked at each other and both smiled and rushed forward to embrace.

“Mike?” El whispered into his ear and Mike felt like the luckiest person to know what it felt like to care for someone so much.

They moved apart slightly and Mike could see her eyes were bright and her smile just so beautiful.

“El, I missed you,” Mike said with a sudden wave of emotion and felt his eyes moisten.  
“Me too,” El said quietly and ushered him inside, closing and locking the door.

“Hopper will be here soon,” El said, with her brows furrowed and Mike nodded.

“Maybe I can hide in your closet or under your bed?”

El thought about it and giggled reminded of one of the soaps she had watched when she had been in hiding.

“Okay, “ El said and grabbed at Mike’s hand and showed him her room.

Shopping bags littered her floor; her walls were barren except for an E and an L made of wood. Her bed was probably a full and was covered by a pink and frilly cover top with two pillows. A closet was towards the far wall, El mentally opened the door and looked at Mike.

It was dawning on Mike that their roles had been revered from last year when he had hidden her in his closet and now it was he who was the villain.

The crunch of leaves outside alerted them that they would no longer be alone and Mike moved quickly towards the closet and closed the door as a strangely patterned knock was heard.

He heard the tail tale sign of El opening the door and then the chief’s voice.

Mike had thought torture were those 1,364,833 seconds without her. But the 30 minutes of listening to the chief talk with little to no input from El was making his skin crawl. Maybe it was also the thought of being so close to her an unable to touch her or look at her or even talk to her!

Finally, he heard Hopper say goodnight and the soft click of her door and then the door burst open and El was there and they again embraced as if their small time apart had damaged them.

El looked tired now that Mike looked at her completely. She also looked really cute in her leggings and long shirt and her curly hair all messy from her shopping trip.

“Sleep?” Mike whispered and El nodded mutely and unmade her bed with her powers and pulled Mike towards her bed.

Mike’s cheeks were on fire. He had thought to sleep on her floor but her invitation was clearly written in the silence as she tugged at his hand.

As they climbed over the bed and settled next to each other holding hands, Mike again thanked the lucky stars that had given him so much good fortune.

El tugged at his hand and Mike moved his head sideways to look into her beautiful eyes. He hoped that he would wake early tomorrow before the chief so he could leave in one piece. But he also didn’t care at this moment because El’s eyes captivated his thoughts.

“Goodnight boyfriend,”

“Goodnight girlfriend,”

And they both blushed and quietly giggled and then slowly drifted to sleep.


	3. Their New Freedom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> El finally gets to taste a bit of freedom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know. I really suck! I am one of those people that will constantly check up to see if a story has been updated and get super sad when it hasn't and I totally didn't realize it had been a week since I updated. 
> 
> Anyways, I guess here it is and again not a professional writer. Doing this cause Mileven really f-ed me up in S2 and I gotta let all this I feel out!

Their new freedom…

One week after their little secret sleepover Mike and El had pushed Hopper’s patience to the limit. With the help from Joyce, who told him that El needed to start having more freedom so that she could navigate the world in an easier way should be allowed to go over to her house. This way the boys could meet up after school and eventually during their fast approaching spring break as well. This would help Jane or El get acclimated to interacting with kids her age. Hopper had only agreed because he knew she needed to learn how to interact and have some acceptable social norms.

Mike was over the moon; he was just bursting at the seam with happiness. He looked at the clock and quietly groaned. It was still 2:57 PM and the tiny little hand had only moved 13 seconds. 

Today would be the first time that he would be over at Will’s house. Just him, Will and El, but he had made sure to ask Will if anyone else would be home and to his happy realization there would be no parental supervision. He had also asked Will if he could spend some time alone with El. The reason for why was very innocent, really! It was! He just wanted to complete his gift, which he had gotten her a week before. It turned out that the pretty pink earrings had a matching bracelet and he knew he had to get it for her. He had borrowed money from Nancy to buy it promising to pay her back as soon as he could.

He knew that part of his weekends would now need to be spent mowing someone’s lawn to pay Nancy back, but it was going to be worth it. He could already imagine El’s surprise and delight at the gift he would bestow her. Maybe she would reach up and tug at his curls and slowly bring his face down to mee-

**RING, RING, RING**

The school bells rang and Mike lost his train of thought as he quickly stood up and raced towards his locker. He gathered his books and stuffed them into his backpack and shut his locker door with a loud bang, which caused some student to look at him and snicker.

Mike was unaware as he took a left and then a right and then found a tired looking Will slowly open his locker.

“Hey Will, are you ready?” Mike asked even though Will was clearly still looking for his books to take home.

“In a minute. I need to find my geometry notebook. Hey, did you hear that Jeffers is going to give out a pop quiz tomorrow? Did you get your notes?” Will asked while still looking for the notebook.

“No I didn’t hear but I got my notebook. You can borrow it if you want, that way you don’t have to keep looking for it.” Mike answered desperately trying to rush his friend.

Will shook his head and replied, “Nah, I took extra notes because I didn’t understand chapter 6.4 and I know I’ll get mixed up if I try following your notes. I swear I had it in here. Oh, wait I think Lucas borrowed it.”

Just as Will finished his sentence Lucas rounded the corner with the infamous notebook. It was clearly Will’s as the front was covered with drawings that used every color in the rainbow. Max was trailing behind Lucas with a knowing smile as he glanced up at Mike.

“Look Will, I found your notebook in my stuff. You might want to study; looks like Jeffers might have a pop quiz tomorrow. Hey Mike, why are you sweating bullets?” Lucas asked and at this Max burst out laughing.

“Loverboy here must be melting. He’s going to Will’s today and so is El.” Max said in-between laughter. 

“How do you even know this?!” Mike asked really confused and angry at her laughter.

Max shrugged and answered, “El and I talked.”

Her answer caused all 3 boys, with the excepting of Dustin since he had been out of school today to see the dentist, to gasp and start asking questions.

“Will you guys just shut up??” Max said, “She wanted to ask me something so she radioed me. Lucas let’s go” She grabbed at his hand which caused Lucas to start smiling like a weirdo.

Mike and Will just kept staring with surprise and Will turned to Mike.

“You should ask El, it’s really weird that Max was so smug about it.”

And with that both Mike and Will made their way to where Jonathan awaited for them in the parking lot. Jonathan dropped them off at the Byers household and asked them to be good and throwing in a wink. Which was very un-Jonathan but with him dating Nancy he had changed a lot.

Mike and Will entered the Byer’s home and started to pull out the chips and pouring some juice when they heard the honk of Hopper’s car. 

Mike started to sweat again. What if she didn’t like the bracelet? What if Hopper came inside and started to question leaving El with them?

But as he stayed frozen Will had already opened the door to let El in and waved goodbye to Hopper as his car pulled out of the driveway.

El always surprised him, and always in such a good way. She was just dazzling today, not that he would actually say those words. He would probably say beautiful and that still made his cheeks pink. She was wearing a really pretty dress in the color of snow. It stopped right above her knees and he was starting to question why he was so enraptured by her newly found femininity.

“Mike,” She softly greeted and Mike unfroze, stepping forward to hug her. She was no longer the fragile looking girl he had found in the pouring rain.

She was now a completely new person. She was soft in his arms and she smelled of wild poppy flowers that grew in the fields that he would find on fresh spring days. Her hair curled around her slim neck and her fingers grasped at his back pulling him to her. He was so lost in the moment that Will started coughing quietly to get their attention.

Instead of feeling embarrassed he slowly released El and shrugged his shoulders.

“Sorry Will,” Mike said and El just giggled into his shoulder.

“Hi Will,” El said and looked towards the Byer’s kitchen, “Are we having snacks?”

“Hey El, yeah. Let’s eat something and then I have to go study for Math.” Will answered.

They moved to the table and Mike and Will started to tell El all about their day. El’s eyes widened with wonder and excitement, she was buzzing to go to school and share the experience with her friends.

After they had finished their afternoon snacks Will went into his room with a promise to come back at 5:30 PM. This way they could watch a movie Joyce had rented for them. It was The NeverEnding Story, a movie that both Will and El had not seen. 

Mike and El had moved towards the living room and Mike had put on the TV, this was something he did to fill in the silence as he and El sat next to each other on the floor. Mike had already gotten the little paper bag that held the bracelet and had it in his back pocket. 

Mike kept fidgeting, his fingers trying to reach for El’s hand but stopping halfway almost a dozen times.

“Mike, why are you so…” El paused looking for the right word breaking the weird silence, “Nervous?”

Mike gulped and nodded his head as if to agree with her question. He reached towards his back pocket and slowly with trembling hands and sweaty palms he placed the small paper bag faced down between them.

“I got you something. I hope you like it, I wasn’t sure if this was something you would like. But the store clerk he um, said that it would go well with your earrings and I was like ‘Oh cool, I’ll take it’ and he was like ‘Yeah she’ll like it’ and well here it is.” Mike finished lamely, knowing he was just spewing random words together trying to not be nervous. He had failed so miserably but El didn’t even notice. 

Last time with his gift of the earring he had left early in the morning and he wasn’t able to see her reaction. Instead he got a grumpy and tired looking Hopper to show up at school the next day with a note from El and a stern talk from Hopper about how El had made him take her to Joyce’s so that she could get her ears pierced and how next time he should consider giving her something that didn’t need to be pierced.

El looked up at him with her big round molten honey colored eyes and smiled as she reached towards the package; she slowly grabbed it by the closed bottom flap and shook it to hear something rustle and slide out. 

“It’s so pretty Mike,” She said with wonder and delight.

“Just like you,” Mike replied and tugged at her wrist and she placed the bracelet in his open palm and he quickly fastened it.

Her face held happiness as she softly reached up towards her ears and caressed both her earing and bracelet.

Mike knew by looking at her that he would most definitely need to procure a steady source of income. The joy she radiated from his gifts made his heart flutter. He wanted to buy her a million things just to see her smile.

As she kept toying with her new accessories in silence Mike noticed that her cheeks had slowly turned from creamy to rosy red. This somehow stressed Mike and his eyebrows shot up.

“El?” Mike whispered trying not to ruin the sweet atmosphere. Was she upset, what had he done?

El looked up into his eyes and he was surprised by what he saw there. She was determined and a bit unsure of how to proceed so she asked instead of jumping to the action she was curious about.

“Mike, when we kiss.” She paused, her eyebrows knitting together and her lips forming a cute pout, “Why is it so short?” 

Mike just stared at her. He was shell-shocked, this was definitely not what he thought she was going to say. It still amazed him how she kept surprising him.

“Um, well. I um.” He was stunned and speechless. Yeah, he had thought of kissing her and doing it longer or more often but he didn’t want to push her to do anything she wasn’t ready for or understood clearly. He never ever wanted to be in a situation where he would take advantage of how beautifully innocent she was. 

“It’s just that I see boyfriends and girlfriends kiss longer on TV. And I asked Max and she said it was called ‘Making Out’? Why is it called that? And do you not want to make out with me?” El said her determination to find out clearly written on her face. 

Mike just stayed frozen. So this was why Max was acting strange, he just hoped that Max would keep this to herself and not embarrass El. He didn’t care if Lucas, Dustin, and Will knew or laughed at his expense but he did care if El was being made fun of. 

So he answered his voice slightly cracking making his cheeks pink, “Yeah, I guess some couples make out. But I just wasn’t sure that you knew or um wanted that. I would do it, you know, um make out with you if you wanted?” His answer clearly a question more to assure himself that this was something she wanted and not a figment of his imagination. 

He was soon to be 14 years old and he had already started to notice those changes. But he was more embarrassed to say he had noticed those changes in El too. A year without her had made him all too aware of how she looked and how every day he would notice changes in her. Like how she sometimes wore her hair or how she dressed but then there were those changes that were natural and his own responded to hers. But he was too embarrassed to think about that kind of stuff. They were still kids, well kinda of. Technically he was now a teen but that didn’t mean he was a loser like the mouth breathers. Who were super perverted and would try to look up girl’s skirts. 

No, Mike vowed he would always treat El with all the respect she deserved. 

El nodded and softly said. “I want to try.”

Mike nodded and he scooted closer to her. His hand reached towards her neck softly grazing the soft skin there, causing El to sigh. Her response to him caused him to lowered his head close to hers, their breaths mixing together. Her eyes automatically closed and he was mesmerized by her again.

Soft smooth creamy skin, long lashes, and rosy cheeks. How had he gotten so lucky? 

He swiftly and gently submerged his lips into her soft lips, pecking her. Testing the newly found energy between them. She instantly reached up to peck her lips against his as he had pulled away from their lips. 

Her hand had found its way to his soft hair and kept him there. Their breaths were now mingling together. Breathing into each other and their lips connected once again this time without hesitation they moved them, parting them.

Both Mike and El shuddered at the warm feeling that their locked lips gave them. Instead of the cute fluffy feeling, they would get from their cute and short pecks this was something more. Their lips were discovering how soft they were against each other and they also found that they needed to withdraw from one another to grasp more air. 

After they gulped air they submerged back in, instead of sitting next to each other they had now risen to their knees. Mike’s hands tilted her head to the side and his to the opposite direction. This gaining a sigh from El causing a shudder from Mike, he had no idea she could make that noise and he really liked it.

Their lips were now nipping at one another instead of just feeling them up together and they had been doing this for quite some time when they heard Will’s footsteps.

This time instead of slowly backing away, Mike sprang away from El’s addicting lips and tried to move to a more natural position and instead, his arm tangled with El’s and he toppled sideways and ended up gripping El’s knee as she had fallen on her bottom.

This was how Will found them. Mike furiously blushing and apologizing to El as he slowly backed away to put some distance between himself and her. El looked bewildered, as she did not understand why he was apologizing. 

But what caused Will to burst out laughing was that both Mike and El’s hair were a mess and their lips looked almost bruised.

“Um guys, maybe you should not make out so much next time. Hopper will probably skin you alive if El returns with bruises on her mouth.” Will moved to the kitchen and brought back two towel wrapped ice bags and handed them to both blushing teens.

“Let’s just watch the movie yeah? Will the Wise will help keep you guys from going purple in the mouths, okay? Don’t want to lose your newly found freedom.” He laughed quietly as he set up the VCR and both El and Mike sat next to each other holding hands and shyly smiling at each other.

El moved to whisper in Mike’s ear as Will went to turn off the lights.

“I liked that, when can we do it again?” Mike flushed at the thought of her against him like that again and instead of answering her, he brought her towel wrapped ice bag and gently placed it over her swollen lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still looking for someone to look over my work before I publish so if you want to, reach out to me :)


	4. Maturity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More about El, Nancy, Max, and Joyce then anything here. We also have some Mike Wheeler time!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoy! I already have chapter 5 done and will be posting it sometime this weekend.

Maturity

El or “Jane” Hopper was used to being at home or now being able to travel to Will’s house. The newly found freedom was both a great experience and torturous. 

Great, because she didn’t have to stay cooped up in the cabin walls all day until Hopper came home from work. And torturous because even though she was able to go out and interact with all her friends she was still not able to do all the things they did. And El knew deep down that she could try to act normal but she was just too different.

Maybe that’s why she connected with both Will and Max lately. Will had a taste of the upside down that he would always live with. El felt like that really bonded them together.

With Max, who El had judged really harshly and unfairly from their first acquaintance. Max was cool, but she was also someone with who El could relate to, first of all, Max was the only girl other than herself in the group. Max had tried very hard on the first couple days to get El to like her and El appreciated that, especially when El had accidentally caught Lucas and Max kissing… with their fingers linked together and she had quickly turned around and mentioned it to nobody.

Lately, Max was being very useful. Especially with Mike and the now newly found way to kiss. Max had been very open about El’s questions that one evening when El had been so frustrated. In El’s mind, it seemed that Mike didn’t want to kiss her as much as El wanted to kiss him. He was always very sweet but El wanted what her soaps had. Long warm embraces, lips parting and maybe even an invitation of open-mouthed kisses. They hadn’t gone there… yet but El was determined to experience all of this and more with Mike. Just not yet, everything had it’s time and place as Nancy said.

What El didn’t know was that her mind was changing, from a child’s to a young women/teenager. 

Nancy was the first one to point out to her and in private to Hopper and Joyce, that El was also physically changing.

It was Nancy, who with Hopper's permission and to Hopper’s relief that took El shopping for her new undergarments as well as feminine hygiene products. El had asked Nancy why she needed Pads and why they were called that but Nancy had shaken her head and simply stated, “Joyce will speak to you tomorrow”. 

El was super delighted to go shopping. She had gotten so many cool outfits that ranged from jeans and band tees to floral dresses and blouses to her personal favorite, it was a baby blue dress with a blue bow in the middle of her chest.

She had also enjoyed getting pretty underwear, what Hopper had gotten her a year ago was some plain white ones. But this time she went with different colors and styles. Some with little patterns and some with cute little bows, plus these would fit better since her body was changing and her old ones didn’t fit very comfortably.

Shopping for bras, well that had been interesting. She had no idea that bras were meant to cup at her newly developing breasts. And that they also help support them, that was something Nancy said so El just shrugged and picked a bunch.

After the shopping trip, she had gotten the surprise of a sneaky Mike at her door and they had a secret sleepover. Her first sleepover.

The next day El had found her present and she had cried at first. Not because she was sad but because she was so amazed that Mike was so caring. She had loved the earrings and once Hopper had gotten home El demanded to see Joyce and that she wanted to get her ears pierced.

Hopper had not been happy about this and when he found out that it had been Mike’s present, “How did he get this to you?” Hopper has asked and El had shrugged and showed him the note that Jonathan had left with the gift.

Hopper took El to Joyce’s house and Joyce greeted them with enthusiasm and then whispered in Hopper’s ear. This action caused Hopper to stutter a yes and his cheeks had started to get pink. He asked Joyce quickly if she could also pierce El’s ears and Joyce had nodded as Hopper said a quick ‘I’ll be back El’ and left.

That afternoon El suffered pain in her ears but she was okay with it because it meant she could wear her gifts and she had also had “The Talk”.

El had been wowed! She could have babies! But Joyce mentioned many times that not until she was way older, cringing at El’s excitement. El understood that part but she still was amazed that her body would be able to produce another human life. 

Joyce also shared her thoughts on sex. El had been very confused, why would people do that? 

Joyce had blushed and said, “When two adults love each other and are married they have sex to show that they love each other. This is why sex is also referred to ‘Making Love’”.

El had then asked, “Can Mike and I make love?” to which Joyce started to cough and try to grasp for air. 

“No, El you two are too young.” And El agreed, she thought that was weird and she took Joyce very seriously.

After that Joyce decided to maneuver back to how she was changing physically. She agreed that she should start to wear her bras and to make sure to always carry a pad with her in case she got her period. 

Joyce was sure that Eleven would start womanhood soon. She was no longer the child she had met a year ago, she had grown a few inches, her figure changing, her hips widening just a touch and her breasts developing.

And the fateful day had to happen on a Saturday a few weeks later when all the boys and Max were at Will’s house. Joyce had been in her room reading and being nostalgic and had left the young teens alone in the living room.

Mike had started a new campaign and El had been pressed up against his side much to Mike’s delight. She had been feeling a little under the weather with a pounding headache and some pain in her lower tummy.

Max had been watching her but not saying anything until she saw El wince.

“El, you okay?” Max asked and Mike quickly moved to see El and saw how pale she was.

“El? What’s wrong?” Mike asked super worried about her but El just grimaced and answered. 

“Fine, just tummy hurts.” To which Mike got up from sitting on the floor with all the other boys and asking Will if he had any Ginger Ale.

Lucas and Dustin took this as a snack break and followed Will into the kitchen leaving Mike, El, and Max alone.

El suddenly felt a rushed feeling and stood up quickly.

At her sudden movement both Mike and Max sprang towards her and when El gasped they both looked towards were El was pointing.

Right, where she had been sitting on the blue cushion there was now a stain.

Max immediately knew what was happening as did Mike. They’re reactions vastly different. 

Mike coughed awkwardly and just blushed while Max started to pull El towards the bathroom, taking with her the cushion and grabbing her backpack on the way.

El was still in somewhat of a shock. Once Max locked the door and turned around El blurted out.

“I started my period, right?” 

Max deflated a little bit thinking she was going to inform El what was happening but it looked like she already knew.

“Wow, I didn’t think Mike would talk to you about this?” Max said and El started to shake her head.

“No, it was Mrs. Byers,” El stated.

Max grinned, of course, the lovesick kid wouldn’t say anything to El, he would have probably had a heart attack.

“I have some pads if you want, but your underwear is now ruined and so is your dress,” Max said eyeing her stained dress.

“Um, could you go ask Mrs. Byers if she can give you my emergency clothes?” El asked.

Max nodded and quickly left. A moment later Max came back with Mrs. Byers in tow.

Joyce was radiating, “Oh El! Look at you maturing into womanhood! Here are some clothes and I have some Midol for you to take and a brand new bottle to take home, Okay?” 

El nodded and both Mrs. Byers and Max showed her how to open the pad and put it on and left the bathroom so she could change.

El emerged from the bathroom and found boys and Max back on the floor using the living room table to play D&D.

Her steps alerted the group and Max winked while Mike blushed.

“Oh come on Mike! She just used the bathroom why are you blushing!” Dustin said and Lucas chuckled along with Will.

“N-nothing guys, shut up!” Mike said but kept blushing and shyly looking up at El as she came to sit next to him.

“Wait El!” Mike said as he grabbed the cushion he was sitting on and handed it to El.

“Here, use mine,” Mike said quietly.

“Thanks, Mike,” El responded and placed the cushion next to him and started to lay her head on his shoulder.  
Mike whispered, “Anytime, I um hope you feel better.”

Max looked at them and smiled, yeah they looked cute. But whatever she wasn’t super mushy like other girls. She wouldn't admit it out loud anytime soon but she thought they were super cute together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please keep the awesome comments coming!! I love them and they help motivate me :)


	5. Spring Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> El's first spring break!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I was not going to update today but OMG guys!!! Stranger Things Season 3 was greenlit!!! I can't wait to see all our favs together and in high school!!! I am still so happy! Anyways here is chapter 5. After this one, I think I'll start creating big time skips. I might do flashbacks at certain points though so don't be sad.

Spring Break….

 

_~Monday~_

 

The start of April meant that Max and the boys were now officially out of school for Spring Break. It had been 4 months since the fateful day when El officially became a ‘women’ and she hated it.

 

Every month she had to suffer the pain of having her period and she just wanted it to all go away. It especially bothered her because she was also now learning the horrible truth about ‘puberty’.

 

What once was soft skin on her face was now filled with little spots that did not go away. She hated those spot so much because they seemed to spread to all her friends and her beloved boyfriend Mike.

 

Okay, so she didn’t hate them on Mike’s face but she hated that it had started with her and then it seemed like the entire group had gotten them. They had to convince her that it wasn’t her fault when on afternoon she had burst out crying.

 

As Eleven looked at her reflection in the mirror she grimaced. She wasn’t anything special especially when she remembered the girls she saw at the Snow Ball months ago. How could Mike prefer her when so many girls went to school with him? They didn’t have red irritated spot on their faces like she did. It was so frustrating!

 

Hopper’s knock on her door brought her out of the miserable thoughts running through her head.

 

“Can I come in kid?” asked Hopper, his voice sounding gruff.

 

El unlocked the door with her mind and Hopper came in and frowned seeing her visibly upset.

 

“Kid, I know you’ve had enough of this ‘hiding’, so after speaking with some of the other parent’s. We or should I say I decided that you can slowly start going out in public. Since the boys and Max are on break I’ll allow you to go into town and stuff but you will have to always be with someone and be home when I say. Okay?” Hopper’s revelation seemed to make El forget all about her inner teen turmoil and she threw herself towards her father, Hopper.

 

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” She said as she squeezed Hopper and he laughed and hugged her back and then put her down.

 

“So it looks like the Wheeler kid is going to be coming to pick you up here in a few minutes,” Hopper said and El nodded but then she stopped.

 

“I have to change!” El said and started to dig through her closet and Hopper slowly backed away and said, “I’ll see you at 7 PM!” and left for work.

 

El changed into a blue and green spaghetti strap shirt and some Bermuda shorts and pulled her hair into a tiny little bun. As she was finishing the touches on her hair in the mirror she stood there and glowered. Her skin was flushed with excitement but she started to get frustrated over the spots again. That’s when Mike began knocking on the door.

 

El unlocked the door as she ran towards Mike who was standing patiently in front of the doorway.

 

Once their eyes met Mike slowly and with color rising to his cheeks pulled out a single wildflower from behind his back. El squeaked and rushed forward and pulled Mike into a hug, his hand, and flower trapped between their hug.

 

“Hi, El! I um thought you’d like a flower, it’s not a fancy rose and maybe this was stupid.” Mike said but El let him go and shook her head making grabby hands toward the flower.

 

“Gimme, gimme!” She said a new word she had heard Max say one day after school at the Byer’s house.

 

Mike placed the flower in her open palm and El rushed to her room and placed it on her bed and turned around and walked towards the door with a light jean jacket in her hands.

 

Mike automatically reached for her hand and the pair walked out the door with El closing the door with her mind.

 

_~Tuesday~_

 

The second day of her freedom/Spring Break was much better than the first. After walking out with Mike on Monday they had gone to Will’s house and the whole gang was waiting for them. They had made a plan on how they would spend spring break and watched some movies until 7 PM when Hopper came looking for El.

 

He found his teen daughter in high spirits and he knew he had made the right decision.

 

Today according to the plan, Hopper was to drop El off at the Wheeler house.

 

Mike had made sure to clean every spot El would be in today and that included the basement, the living room, helping his Mom in the kitchen and to Karen Wheeler’s amazement his bedroom.

 

Karen Wheeler was very aware that Mike’s attitude had done a complete turn around since 6 months ago. And she was now starting to think it had to do with Hopper’s adoptive daughter. It seemed that Mike had seen her months before her official adoption had taken place when Jane had been introduced to Hopper with her social worker and Mike had developed a crush and was sad when she had not come back. Now it all made sense thanks to Nancy filling her and Karen telling Ted they had been relieved that it was just a normal teenage boy reaction and not the downfall of Michael Wheeler.

 

As Mike paced back and forth waiting for El he thought about he would have her all for himself until 2 PM and it was currently almost 10 AM.

 

Mike decided to use the bathroom and as he was getting out he heard the Chief’s voice talking with his mother.

 

Mike rushed downstairs to be greeted by El in a cute jean skirt and long sleeved pink shirt. Mike loved staring at his girlfriend, she had her hair lose today and he loved when it would brush against his cheek and tickle his neck when she leaned into him to whisper in his ear.

 

Mike went to stand beside his Mom and greeted the Chief and El.

 

“Hi, Chief. Hey El!” He said happily.

 

“Hi, Mike,” El said quietly, heat rising to her cheeks due to both her father and Mike’s Mom looking at her.

 

“Well Karen, thanks for having her. I’ll be at work all day but if I step out please let Flo know you’re calling about Jane.” Hopper said as he shook Karen Wheeler’s hand and he moved to leave.

 

“No problem Jim. I packed you some of the food I made for the kids today so you can take it for lunch.” Karen rushed towards the kitchen and quickly came back and handed a surprised but grateful Jim Hopper q container with food.

 

Once the Chief left Karen Wheeler informed Mike that she and Holly would go to the store to grab some sodas and snacks so they could have something to eat before dinner. She also gave Mike a look, which made Mike blush and nod.

 

Mike quickly grabbed El’s hand and they both rushed downstairs. El was happy to have Mike all to herself and they both without saying a word climbed into their fort and started giggling.

 

This is how the gang found them at 2 PM. They were intertwined and fast asleep. They had talked until El fell asleep and Mike had just kept staring. She was so cute when she was asleep and he loved to feel her soft breathing which eventually made him fall asleep.

 

The group woke them up and they spent the rest of the day playing D&D with El and Max watching and talking quietly together.

 

_~Wednesday~_

 

Mike was never this excited to go to the Arcade. Today the Chief had not worked which Met El could go out but until 3 PM and they had planned to introduce El to the magical world of Video Games!

 

Mike awaited El by the front door with his back towards the brick building, his leg half bent. The others had already started playing too impatient to wait any longer.

 

He scanned the road and jumped up as he saw El coming out of the Police truck along with Hopper.

 

As they reached Mike El started waving at Mike and the Chief grabbed El’s hand to stop her before she launched herself into Mike’s arms.

 

“Kid, I’ll pick her up from your house. Don’t stay out here too late, I’ll pick her up at 8:30 PM, okay?” The Chief said and Mike nodded.

 

“Bye Dad!” El said and both her, Mike and Hopper’s eyes widen and they broke into smiles.

 

“Bye Kid, bye Wheeler,” Hopper said ruffling El’s hair and leaving them alone.

 

El hugged Mike and whispered a quiet ‘Hi’.

 

Mike let go of her and grabbed her hand and led her into the arcade.

 

At 6 PM the gang was done playing after having found out that El was pretty decent at Dig Dug compared to the other games and cheered her on even though she didn’t make it to the top players.

Mike and El were picked up by Nancy and she and El kept giggling over the singer on the radio until they made it home.

 

Mike and El greeted his mother and she said dinner would be ready at 8 so Mike asked El if she would like to read a book with him. She was excited, as she had been getting better at reading with the help of the substitute teacher who Hopper had found for her tutoring.

 

Mike led El towards his room and Mike blushed and scratched the back of his neck as he opened the door.

 

The room had not changed much since 2 years ago. He still had some toys on his dresser but not as many as before.

 

El sat on his bed and Mike quickly went to find his Lord of the Rings book. He had to distract himself from his girlfriend sitting on his bed looking so beautiful.

 

He read to El and kept glancing at his clock willing it to hurry up and be dinnertime but they still had more than an hour to go.

 

El had started by leaning into his side, then nuzzling his shoulder trying to get comfortable and then her fingers coming up to his cheek as she saw how his face blushed as he read to her.

 

She had been listening but she didn’t like to sit very still sometimes and especially now because there was this weird tension in the room that she didn’t understand.

 

As the color in his cheeks rose, she caressed his cheek and was surprised to find heat there and she then realized that Mike was no longer reading and was staring at her.

 

Mike was dying inside, she kept fidgeting and touching him and looking at him in wonder. It was taking everything in his power not to kiss her. He wanted to and he knew she wouldn’t object but he wanted to not seem like he was crazy.

 

But as soon as his desire to kiss her registered on El’s face that same twinkle of desire sparked in her. Mike quickly leaned down to kiss the side of her mouth trying hard to not be a wild baboon.

 

El shuttered at the half kiss and brought her arms up to Mike’s neck and they both leaned towards each other. Mike’s trembling hands held onto the nape of her hair and they started making out.

 

It was still kind of sloppy but better than the first make out session they had. The first one was filled with wonder just like their first kiss. Now this one was filled with expectations of warm breaths and moist lips.

 

Their fingers, palms, and hands caressed each other’s neck and face in sweet innocent gestures.

 

They continued this for quite sometime until Mike heard Holly’s rapid footsteps rush up the stairs. But instead of jumping away from El like the last time. Mike slowly began to end their kissing by simply starting to nip at El’s swollen lips and slowly kissing away from her mouth to her rosy cheeks. Her labored breath stirring a feeling of happiness in Mike’s chest.

 

“Mike! Mom says dinner is almost ready, can you and Jane come help set the table?” Holly said as her fist pounded his door.

 

“Y- yeah, we're coming!” Mike’s hoarse voice yelled as he was still trying to catch his breath coming back to rest his forehead against El’s. Her eyes were closed with a beautiful smile gracing her features as she too was trying to catch her breath.

 

They sat there for a moment and once they were breathing naturally Mike’s hands moved to caress the curls at the base of her neck.

 

“Ready?” Mike said and El opened her eyes and nodded.

 

“Yeah, and Mike?” El said as she stood up grabbing Mike’s hand.

 

“That was really nice. Thank you for making me feel good inside.” El said meaning that even though she was having bad thoughts about the current situation with her face and the spots Mike found her beautiful and made her feel like the spots didn’t matter.

 

Mike blushed at the compliment as well as the way she worded her sentences. She was still learning and didn’t understand that things could be taken a different way and he chided himself for thinking those thoughts.

 

Mike nodded and they went downstairs to get started on setting the table.

 

_~The rest of the week and weekend~_

 

Both Thursday and Friday were spent at Dustin’s house. They had a movie marathon on both days and they had so much fun spending the day together as a group.

 

Mike and El kept giving each other shy glances throughout the end of the week and weekend so much that Max started to make eyes at Lucas in exaggeration and making fun of the cute couple.

 

Saturday, El had spent it with Nancy and Max. Nancy claimed that El should enjoy her new freedom by having an official girls day out.

 

Mike had protested but Nancy wouldn’t budge.

 

El had missed Mike and Mike had missed El but El enjoyed getting to go shopping some more.

 

Mike all the while was distraught and not really in the mood to hang out with the boys until they cornered him and they started a tickle war.

 

El, Max, and Nancy had gotten their nails done and had gone to see the new movie The Breakfast Club. This movie El loved, she kept gushing about it after it finished and Max had to agree that even she liked it.

 

Nancy drove the girls to her house so they could say a quick goodbye to the boys and then was going to drop them off at home.

 

As the boys heard the voices of both El and Max they rushed upstairs.

 

The girls quickly said bye and as the boys returned downstairs as they were staying the night and El was not allowed to sleep over and Max didn’t want El to feel excluded she also was not staying.

 

Mike lingered and before El left Mike quickly and gently kissed El right there! In front of his sister and Max.

 

As they both separated they were both blushing and holding hands.

 

“Bye El,” Mike said and slowly let go of her hand and both Nancy and Max were stunned.

 

“Wow El, you guys have it pretty bad!” Nancy teased making Max giggled as they climbed into Nancy’s car.

 

“Have it bad?” El said with a frown not completely understanding the phrase.

 

Max cut in as Nancy started driving towards her house.

 

“Like you guys really like each other,” Max said and at this El nodded.

 

“Yeah, we have it bad,” El said tasting the new phrase she repeated.

 

Max left with a goodbye and climbed out of Nancy car and Nancy and El talked about the movie until they got to the end of the road and Nancy and El made it through the woods.

 

“I had fun El. I hope we can do this again.” Nancy said and El surprised her by giving her a hug and nodded.

 

Hopper was waiting inside the cabin and when El came in he asked her about her day and she told him all about the stores and thanking him for giving Nancy some money for clothes and the movies.

 

Hopper was happy to see her flourish and start to have a normal life. But he was not sure how she would take the next piece of information.

 

“So tomorrow we’re staying home.” He started and El quickly asked why brows furrowed.

 

“The boys and Max need to finish their school work as they start school Monday again. So it’s going to be just you and I kid. Plus you need to also keep working on your tutoring if you want to join your friend in September.”

 

El looked sadden but nodded.

 

“Okay Dad, goodnight.” She said and went into her room softly closing and locking the door.

 

She dropped her bags and raced towards her SuperCom.

 

“Mike?” She said into the SuperCom.

 

After a little while, he answered her.

 

“Hi El, is something wrong?” He asked as he heard her sigh sadly.

 

“I won’t see you tomorrow, but maybe sometime next week because of school.” She said.

 

“Yeah, my mom said Hopper talked to her. I already miss you.” Mike said thanking God that he had gone upstairs to get some socks and away from the boys.

 

“Me too. I’ll miss you more tomorrow and the next day.” El said.

 

“I promise I’ll make next time we see each other fun so you won’t be sad, okay El?” Make said hating that El was hurting.

 

“Okay, Mike. Goodnight.”

 

“Goodnight El.”

 

El changed into her PJs and laid down on her bed and fell asleep remembering all the good fun times she had during her first Spring break with her friends.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for your lovely comments and kudos :)
> 
> I am on tumblr if you want to follow me, so just ask. If you guys have something you'd like to see let me know as I am now taking prompts. They don't have to be on this story's timeline :)


	6. Sleepless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Night Terrors...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy! Also, I made a mistake in chapter 2 where I stated that El was 12 but as I went back I realized that if this story follows after season 2 El and Mike would be around 13. Mike even maybe turning 14 somewhere in the spring/summer seasons. I went back and changed it so just a fyi

Sleepless…

Mike lay awake as he looked up at his ceiling. He glanced at the clock at his nightstand and sighed.

This was the 3rd week since he had gotten little to no sleep. One would think that he would be having night terrors about all they had gone through with the Upside down but this was not the case.

Mike rubbed his eyes and blushed again. He needed to stop and get some sleep. But every time he closed his eyes and fell asleep he would see the same thing. And he was tired of waking up and feeling guilty.

In the back of his head he knew that this was a very natural process. He was 13 almost turning 14 in a couple of weeks so he shouldn’t be surprised.

And when morning came and he went to school he almost felt normal. That was until he went over to the Byer’s, Hopper’s or when he got home and El was waiting for him.

He had tried really hard to make El’s transition into normal life as easy as possible. He really did. But he couldn’t help himself when El sometimes leaned over and her shirt gaped a little or when she would brush by him and her chest brushed his arm.

He hoped he wouldn't have another dream like last night but he also knew he kinda wanted to see what would happen if he didn’t wake up.

And he especially couldn’t help himself when El decided to start kissing him and she had lately started to press against him.

“Ughhh!” Mike growled and flipped around with his head buried in his pillow.

He felt heat rise to his cheeks.

He needed to sleep but his dreams about El were really inappropriate and he felt like he was disrespecting her.

“Screw this!” Mike mumbled into his pillow and decided to drift into sleep, he would need to face the monster and catch some zzz tonight.

~~~~~

His dream always started the same. El and he were playing around while watching her favorite movie once more. They were in his living room and the house was vacant of anyone else or at least that was what his subconscious said.

El had on her cute jean skirt on with her favorite yellow tank top but she had stopped wearing this in real life a while ago because it no longer fit her.

In his dream though the yellow tank fit her the same way Mike imagined it would look like on her now.

It was a sitting a little above her hips showing some skin and when she would raise her hands up it would ride up and show a peek of her belly button. Across her chest was a picture of a duck and it was stretched due to her breasts.

Mike and El had kind of forgotten the movie was playing in the background and El had a mischievous smirk on her lips.

She looked at Mike and dove into his side with her hand and started tickling him. Mike doubled in laughter and tried to pry her hands of him but he could, as it seemed that El was cheating. Mike looked up at her face and laughed harder as he saw her nose start to bleed.

“El! No fair! You can’t *laugh* use your *laugh* powers!” Mike said in-between laughter and El laughed and stopped.

This gave Mike the advantage he needed and started tickling her grabbing her small wrists in his hands and keeping her his prisoner.

El shrieked and twisted as Mike kept tickling her. As Mike looked at her his hands started to slow down and he started blushing at the way they had ended up.

Their limbs were tangled as he was almost half on top of her with one of her legs trapped in-between his. Her cheeks were flushed as she tried to catch her breath. Her chest was heaving up and down and Mike kept staring her shirt had ridden up so much that he could see the underwire of her cute polka-dot bra.

Mike felt a stirring of dire shoot up in his veins as a doe-eyed El looked up at him. Her lips were parted and he felt the energy shift and he felt himself start to become _aroused_.

This is where Mike usually woke up because he could and wouldn’t dare move past that.

Mike valued his life and he shuddered in his dream, not because of the current situation but because even in his sleep he could recall what had happened a month ago.

_Chief Hopper had caught both him and El as he had started to lean back into to kiss her and he had somehow forgotten that his hand had been caressing her back and was dangerously close to her lower back._

_Mike had almost wet his pants at Hopper’s screech. “WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!”_

_Mike had jumped back with his hands held up._

_“N-n-nothing Chief, I swear!” Mike said as he blushed._

_El had also started blushing and the Chief had in a chilling voice asked Mike to leave._

_The next day Mike had gotten home from school and started sweating when he saw the Chief leaning against his car outside of his house without El._

_As Mike approached the Chief he prayed he wouldn’t prohibit El from visiting._

_“Wheeler, you listen to me and you listen to me carefully. If I so catch or hear of you disrespecting El by the cause of your teen hormones I will make sure you don’t live to tell the tale. Got it?” The Chief had threated._

_Mike nodded mutely and the Chief had moved his had as if to say get going. He was thankful when he had seen El sitting with Max and his mom at their dinner table talking._

But now in his dream, Mike didn’t care. He leaned down and touched his mouth with El’s. He basked in her plump lips and warm breath as he arms came to circle around his neck and back.

Her hand bringing him closer making their chest touch and Mike moaned at the sensation. He was in heaven and in hell as their lips separated and without a thought, his lips started to attack El’s cheek and moved across towards her ear and neck.

Whoa, wait this never even crossed his mind but it felt good as she shuddered against him.

His hands moved against his own thoughts and he remembered he was dreaming and couldn't do much but just do as his body said.

Fist his hands caressed her sides dipping to touch the exposed skin above her hips. Relishing in the softness he found there. How come he had never thought of any of this before? He went back up to her lips and his hands rose towards her ribcage and he felt her lungs expand with her breathing.

He should stop he thought to his dream self. He logically knew where this was going, what he would be touching and as much as he wanted to he felt shame fill him as well.

But as his thumb dragged across the underside of her bra Mike woke up to his mother’s voice.

“Mike honey? Your alarm clock has been beeping for the past 10 minutes? Aren’t you riding with the Chief to go over to El’s today?” His mom asked.

Mike flushed with shame as he felt his sheets stick to his Pajama pants.

“Yeah, um thanks, Mom, I’m up now.” He said and coughed. His voice no longer cracked but was lower thanks to the awful cycle called life.

He hurried to get ready and grabbed some Eggs and stuffed them into his backpack as he heard the Chief honk.

Mike quickly made it out of his house and rushed to the side door. He found the Chief with a frown and El with huge smile on her face.

Instead of smiling back like he normally would he blushed and shut the door leaving both the Chief and El confused.

An Awkward silence filled the car and once they made it to the dirt road end the Chief started to speak.

“You two behave, Max is already at the cabin so make sure to have breakfast.”

Mike and El nodded as they made their way out and wave goodbye to the Chief.

Since the incident where they got caught kissing the Chief made sure that someone was always with them. Not that he would think that Mike would be stupid enough to do something stupid but to make sure they got the message.

Mike and El walked side-by-side without touching or talking.

This was frustrating El.

“Mike?” El said and stopped. Mike looked back and his face flushed again.

“Is everything okay? Did I do something wrong?” EL said a frown etched on her lips.

Her lips that looked so kissable right now, Mike though.

He shook his head and sighed.

“No El, I’m just tired.”

El moved closer to him and he shuddered.

“Mike, Friends don’t lie,” El said and reached to him and he stepped back.

His action made El’s bottom lip tremble and she started crying.

“El, please don’t cry! I swear this is about me not you!” Mike said as he reached forward forgetting his dilemma and engulfed her in a hug.

Mike’s mind scrambled as how to explain his problem but El started to quiet down.

“What do you mean?” She asked in a whisper.

“It’s just,” Mike moved to give them space and El frowned as he scratched the back of his neck. This was a nervous habit El had noticed.

“I feel like I like touching you too much and well your dad, the Chief, he didn’t like that.” Mike said not completely lying but also not completely telling the truth.

“I don’t care! You are _MY_ boyfriend and Nancy said that we could kiss and hug! I don’t care if Hopper likes it or not!” El said getting angry and to be completely honest Mike was, unfortunately, living in hell because he was getting aroused.

“Um, El? Could we go to the cabin, _please!_ ” Mike said quickly suddenly needing her to move forward he could feel the tension and he needed to do something quickly or else she would notice what he was trying really hard to hide.

“No, not until we can move forward from getting caught kissing!” She said and started moving closer making Mike’s situation worse.

Instead of arguing with her he thought of the Eggos he had stashed in his backpack and quickly removed it and brought it to his front hiding his arousal.

“Okay, I will, um look I got you Eggos!” Mike said covering the fact that it was a distraction.

El looked surprised and her anger seemed to melt away. She had been scared that Hopper had scared Mike and that he no longer wanted to be her boyfriend. But he still cared for her if he had brought her Eggos.

She raced towards him and hugged him and made him wince and she quickly let go.

“What’s wrong? Did I hurt you?” El said as she saw Mike slowly sit on the ground hugging his backpack to his stomach.

Mike was definitely in hell. El’s hug had caused the textbook in his backpack to um hit him hard.

“I’m fine, just a cramp.” He said as he squeaked out a tiny ‘ow’.

They were startled when they heard the leaves rustle to their left and they stared to see if it had been their imagination. But instead, they heard Lucas, Dustin, and Will’s voices as they appeared.

“Hey guys! Max has been worried sick and so we decided to come looking for you! Good thing she didn’t call the Chief or you’d be in trouble for being here probably making out.” Dustin said.

Will and Lucas looked at the scene before them as Dustin talked and then Lucas started laughing.

Will quickly caught on and felt bad for his friend as both Dustin and El looked confused.

“Mike *laugh* you okay buddy?” Lucas said laughing and pointing at Mike’s backpack.

Mike looked petrified and shouted at Lucas.

“Shut up Lucas! I bet this happens to you too!” Mike said and the Lucas quickly shut up and to everyone’s amazement, he started blushing and coughing.

At this point Will wanted to quickly just get to the cabin and helped a relieved looking Mike up and grabbed El and practically dragged them to start walking towards the cabin.

A worried looking Max was waiting for them on the Cabin’s porch. She rushed forward when she saw Lucas and punched Mike on her way.

“Where the hell did you go? I was so worried! Thank goodness I called the boys with El’s SuperCom.” She said and went to hug Lucas quickly while Lucas looked oddly uncomfortable.

“What’s wrong with you,” Max said as she noticed him looking uncomfortable.

But El answered instead.

“They’re being stupid. Mike was like that first and now Lucas is too because Mike said that what was wrong with him happens to Lucas too!” El said still upset.

Max quickly caught on as she looked at them all. Mike was flushed and kept looking at El and then shuddering and looking away and Lucas was also doing the same thing but looking at her.

“Ohh…” Max said feeling embarrassed and grabbing El and whispering in her ear what was happening as both Lucas and Mike groaned.

El’s eyes opened widened and she started to blush as she remembered her ‘Talk’ with Joyce many months ago.

Dustin was still out of the loop and really bored so he started to march up the cabin stairs and yelled back as he went through the open door.

“Anyone who wants to stop being weird, please follow me, I brought Monopoly!”

They quickly rushed inside making sure not to be too close and the rest of the day they found themselves acting strange and awkward.

When Hopper made it home he found them all sitting apart and he was glad that the Wheeler kid and his daughter had healthy space between them.

Hopper quickly called them so he could take them home. Mike waved bye to El she rushed forward even though she still kept thinking about what Max had said.

“Mike? Um, can I still come over next Saturday early in the morning?” She said her face still feeling hot under his gaze.

“Of course! My mom is looking forward to having help to set up for the party.” He said forgetting about why they had been so weird around each other that whole day.

El nodded, smiled and quickly hugged him goodbye.

He quickly pecked her lips and left running towards where Hopper was waiting with the other kids.

Mike hoped that he and El could move forward from today's day and that he wouldn't dream of her like that again but in second thought he kinda wanted to know what happened next.

As El stayed back she thought about speaking with Joyce and Nancy about the weird feeling she got when Max had said that Mike had probably had dreamed of doing more than kissing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So how is the story doing so far? Let me know :)


	7. Practicing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mind exercises ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoy, trying something new. Taking some elements of fantasy here. Hope you all enjoy!

Practicing…

For Mike and the rest of the gang finals were a piece of cake, or at least they had been. 

The year of 1895 had been a crazy one and had especially been harder than any other year. 

Will was dealing with all the catch-up work he had missed because of the Mind Flayer. 

Dustin was dealing with self-esteem issues and spending his time with Steve being his protégé. 

Lucas and Max were not “official” yet so they had been playing hard to get towards each other.

And Mike and El had finally time to grow as individuals and as a couple.

Not only had the whole gang gone through hard times but also they were transitioning from children to crazy hormone filled teens. 

Mike had left his angst, and rebellious phase once El was back in the picture and although his grade went up his study habits fell down.

Every moment that was not being spent in school or at his house with his family was spent with El. He introduced her to everything and he was proud to say he was the first to show her many of the things she now loved or in some cases didn’t love so much.

To Mike being with El was feeling like he was whole and that is why he found himself angry and distraught.

His mother had placed him under house arrest until after finals were complete. His math teacher had called her earlier that day after class.

Apparently, he had barely passed his practice final and he was concerned. Mike had been glad school was done for the day and was biking home to grab more comic books so he could read them along with El.

But his plans were shattered when his mother stopped him and demanded he stay home for the rest of the week to study. At first, he had just blinked in surprise and then started complaining.

“But Mom! My grades are good! It was just a stupid test! It doesn’t even count!” He had yelled but Karen Wheeler shook her head and made him sit in the kitchen so she could keep an eye out for him.

He had stared at his open math textbook and had not made an effort for almost 3 hours until he finally gave in due to boredom.

He knew that he needed to study but he felt horrible think that El would feel like he had stood her up. He quietly left the kitchen yelled ‘bathroom’ when his mother had yelled out where he was going and quickly dashed into his room and getting on his SuperCom.

“El? El are you there?” He whispered in a hushed tone.

All he could hear was the crackling of the interference. He kept calling out her name until he heard her sweet soft voice.

“Mike?”

“Oh thank God El! I’m sorry I didn’t make it to the cabin. My mom sabotaged my plans because I got a stupid low point on my math practice test.” He said getting angry at his mom all over again.

“Mike, it’s okay. Your mom called Joyce and she told Will who told me. I hope it’s not my fault.” She said worried that she making him fail his test.

“No, no El of course not! It’s just, I didn’t try very hard because I already know all that stuff. I’ll probably be stuck at home all this week though. I’m sorry.” He apologized.

“Okay, I’ll be studying hard too. Ms. Tarter said I’m getting better at my studies. I have to go, I’ll see you later?” El asked and Mike wanted to reassure her that she would but he knew that it was wrong to make a false promise to her.

“Next week or maybe this weekend. I’ll miss you.” He said and she just heard her soft goodbye and he rushed down the stairs.

His mom was hunched over his textbook a frown on her face. He coughed which startled her and she just shook her head.

“Mike, you need to make sure you work on that handwriting of yours! No wonder you almost didn’t pass your test, I could barely understand what you wrote.” His mom said.

“It was a practice test and yeah I’ll try to write better.” He started rolling his eyes.

He spent the rest of his afternoon doing his Math homework along with doing some reviewing of previous chapters.

His afternoon morphed into the night and the dinner table was set for dinner.

To no one's surprise, Ted Wheeler strolled in and started to eat not asking his children or wife how their day had gone. Mike’s mom was again indulging in some wine while Holly played with her food. No one but Mike seemed to notice that Nancy was missing from the table and he envied her freedom to eat dinner with the Byers.

Once dinner was done his mom excused him and he was allowed to go to his room.

He tried to talk with El again but it seemed that she was either offline or maybe Hopper had taken her SuperCom away.

His mood seemed to just progressively turn sour. By 9 pm he was in bed and completely drained. So he focused on trying to sleep, he no longer felt the shame he once felt when he slept and dreamt of El or with El. Yeah, he would blush when the dreams were really vivid and the next day he would see El. But he kinda had to give up because he needed to sleep and to be completely honest his body seemed to crave those dreams as much as his mind did.

But tonight of all nights he found himself in a weirder than normal dream. He was not with El and he almost felt scared. It was almost like a nightmare of the upside down but it wasn’t. 

He almost wanted to say it looked like the void… but no it couldn’t be.

That was until he heard El murmur his name but not out loud but in his head and it was like a coil snapped and he started to fall until he woke up.

He sat up in bed out of breath with his shirt drenched in sweat.

What had happened? 

He reached for his SuperCom with only El on his mind but she did not answer. Maybe this was all in his head. He missed El so much that he subconsciously dreamt of her in the void.

Suddenly a wave of fatigue hit him and he laid back down on his bed and passed out.

He did not waken until the next morning when his mom had knocked on his door.

The school day passed in a blur. He only noticed that Will was looking sleep deprived as they made it to lunch.

“Tired?” He asked Will and he nodded his head.

“Yeah, nightmare again,” Will answered.

“Weird me too. I felt like I was falling until I woke up.” Mike answered.

“Oh, yeah no mine was more about being stuck in the freezing cold in the upside down.” Will said and Mike nodded. He thought maybe he wasn’t the only one that had experienced the weird dream/nightmare. But it looked like he had.

After school he went straight home and repeated the cycle of doing his homework, studying for history today instead of Math and still unable to get a hold of El.

It wasn’t until after dinner as he made his way up the stairs that he heard her voice coming from his SuperCom in his room.

He raced inside, shut the door and dove for the SuperCom that laid on his bed.

“El! Where have you been?” He asked breathless, relief flooding his tightly wound body.

“Sorry. I was um practicing.” She covered quickly and Mike noticed. El was really bad at making up stories on the spot especially when she was addressing Mike.

“El… what’s wrong?” He asked worried and a little hurt that she wasn’t being completely honest.

“Mike, I.” She stopped and then he could hear her burst into tears.

“Whoa, El. No please don’t cry. I promise I’m not mad, I just want us to be honest with each other.” Mike pleaded wishing he could be with her.

“I’m sorry Mike! I’m a horrible girlfriend.” She said in-between sobs.

“No! That’s not true. El,-“ He froze trying to think of how to fix the situation but El beat him to it.

“I tried to visit you in the void and then I tried to bring you into the void with me. And I failed.” She sobbed.

Mike stopped breathing. So it hadn’t been a weird dream, she had actually made a connection with him and he had felt it.

“Wait, El. I heard you yesterday.” Mike said with excitement.

El momentarily stopped crying, “Really?” She asked in a tiny trembling voice.  
“Yeah! But just for a moment and then I was falling and woke up.” He said and continued. 

“El you are a genius! We have to keep trying maybe, um maybe if I focus on waiting to meet you it could work.”

Back in the cabin El giggled and nodded her head then realizing he couldn’t see she answered yes.

That night Mike and El saw each other for a few moments before they both vanished.

For them the night had been a success, the fact that they could visit each other made them think of all the time they now had. How they could now literally always be together even when they were apart.

The rest of the week they kept trying. Not every day was a success as it took a lot out of both but especially El, she was the one that bonded the connection.

What they had noticed by Friday night was that they were able to keep the connection longer by about 5 minutes if they didn’t touch.

It seemed that they were not yet able to transfer physical touch in their dream-like state.

El also realized that the void could also be transferred and they met most nights that week in Mike’s room. His physical items easy to interact with and Mike spent his time with El studying.

So on Tuesday afternoon as Mike rode his bike back home he presented Karen Wheeler with his Math Final.

“Oh, Michael! 100%, see all the studying helped! I am so proud of you.”

“So can I go over to Will’s? today?” He asked hopefully.

“Friday is your last test, English. I want you to focus on this, so for your own good no sweetie.” His mom said and much to her surprise Mike shrugged and hopped onto the kitchen table and started studying.

What she didn’t know was that yes Mike was dying to embrace El and kiss her but he was equally as thrilled to keep practicing their new way of meeting and he tried to fool himself saying that maybe if he missed her so much maybe they would be able to try touching their palms together this week.

And so they spent the rest of the week trying to touch but it was proving to be quite difficult.

But being able to sit across for each other and talk about nothing and everything for more than 5 hours was something Mike would not trade for the world. Especially when he woke up better then refreshed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI I love comments. Also, thanks for the suggestion ohanae, don't worry El will be having a conversation with someone very soon ;) but I needed this chapter in here first. 
> 
> And like ohanae please give me some suggestions of what you'd like to see. I will try my best to incorporate them, as I have somewhat of an idea of how this story will play out but I keep adding/removing ideas. :)


	8. Poolside Fun?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone asked for angst and I did my best... 
> 
> AKA Summertime fun times

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last week was a really busy week so I actually had some time today to finish writing this chappy and here it is. Hope you like it. Let me know what you think :)
> 
> Also, I will be starting another ST Fic, this time an AU. So excited!!

Poolside Fun…

Summer had started with a bang, not only was the party able to meet up almost every day from early in the morning to late afternoon. It also helped that they were able to do so much in the summer heat.

Their first priority was to teach El all that summer freedom had to give. They had spent the first couple days and eventually weeks teaching her all the outdoor games they had known since childhood.

At the start of summer break, Dustin had made the suggestion to visit the community pool. Everyone agreed and El was eager to go with her friends but when they made it to the entrance El completely froze in fear. The large body of water made her heart start beating way too fast and she felt like she was still in the lab. It was there and then that Mike and the rest of the party vowed to make El forget those awful memories and slowly acclimate her to water.

To everyone’s surprise, Lucas had volunteered his Slip n Slide as a way to slowly include El into the water activities. But it had been Erica and Holly who had convinced El to join them in their tiny kiddie pool that helped break El’s initial fear. At first, El was shaking and having flashbacks of the make-shift isolation tank. But after Holly had gently taken her hand and helped her settle in the visions faded.

It took a good solid 10 minutes for her to completely relax and then Holly, Erica, and El had been splashing each other.

The party watched with great joy as El laughed and played with the younger girls.

El had ventured into also trying the Slip n Slide, she liked that as well but found it difficult to slide down it with what she was wearing. When El had explained to Hopper that she would be playing with water she had asked for a bathing suit but Hopper had said no and to just wear a shirt and shorts. He was still not very good at the whole parenting thing.

When Hopper picked her up that afternoon he immediately regretted not letting her go buy a bathing suit. She was wet and had been in those clothes all day, this caused El her good health because that night Hopper had been nursing her as she gained a bad fever. She had been miserable but not as much as Hopper though, especially since he told her she would be stuck at the cabin as long as it took for her to get better and this ended up being a weeklong quarantine.

Even though El wanted to go out and be with her friends she was so tired and kept coughing that she decided that she’d settled with her and Mike’s visits nightly visits. She tried to connect with him everyday but due to her energy being drained he repeatedly told her not to exhaust (a new word she had learned from mike) herself. 

There was still no progress with them physically touching in the void and it was especially hard since she was depleted about 2 hours of meeting up with Mike when she would start to blur away. Mike hated seeing her blur away because he knew that she would most likely be crashing and blacking out.

But to El those small moments meant the world to her.

To El’s surprise, Hopper had arranged for Joyce to take El shopping for some swimwear since she was looking better. Joyce had been excited about the outing and had promised El that they could get more than just swimwear, like some dresses and an update on her undergarments since El was still a growing girl.

That night when everyone was asleep Mike and El met in the void and to his relief El was looking better than the last couple of days. She had on a smile and was sitting patiently waiting for him.

“El,” he whispered.

“Mike, I missed you.” She replied her cheeks blossoming like flowers with a pink tint like flower petals.

“Me too, when can you come out?” He asked his cheeks mimicking hers.

“Oh! Hopper said I could go tomorrow! And I want to go to the pool.” She said excitement written all over her face.

Mike nodded and they spent the rest of the night talking about how she was feeling mentioning her shopping outing with Joyce briefly.

Mike knew that whenever she went shopping with either Mrs. Byers or Nancy it was for clothes. So he was excited to see what new dresses she had gotten, he would never admit it out loud but he loved looking at her when she wore new clothes, how beautiful she made everything she wore. Especially when she wore new dresses.

As morning dawned Mike quickly informed all the party members about the change of plans and that El would be joining them.

By noon the party was downstairs in Mike’s basement waiting for El and Will to arrive.

“Mike, when did you talk to El?” Max asked with a suspicious glint in her eyes.

Mike started to redden and he felt sweat starting to form on his forehead.

“Um, we talked last night.” He said nervously.

“Really? What time? Cause El and I were talking late last night about the plans today.” Max said with a smug smile.

Mike felt annoyed that Max was making it seem that El told her things first which maybe she had this one time but El always came to him. He really didn’t want to play the game that Max was playing so he left to check if they were here, El and Will.

Just as he went to look out his living room window he spied Mrs. Byers car down the road.

He quickly threw the door open and raced towards the driveway.

An excited Will and El jumped out of the car as Mrs. Byer’s car stopped moving.

“Will, El wait don’t fall!” Mrs. Byers said after them but it was too late and Will and El smacked into each other.

“Oh god, El! Will,” Mike said as he raced towards them and helped them both up. The noise they had created had made the party race up to greet them.

Mrs. Byers exited her car and greeted the party and went inside to greet Karen Wheeler.

“Hey Will! Are you ready to get dunked in a game of chicken today!” Dustin said as he went to hug Will.

Will just shrugged and El looked confused, she turned to Mike.

“Chicken?” She asked.

“Oh, that’s a game where you have a partner and one of them climbs the other's shoulder and they duel to knock off the other team’s player off their partner’s shoulders. It’s really fun El!” Mike said enthusiastically.

El looked in awe as Mike explained the game to her and saw how happy he seemed.

“Fun?” She said still unsure.

Mike nodded and then said, “Yeah! I promise.”

El nodded and whispered back, “Promise.”

“So? Are we gonna go or what?” Lucas said as he saw both Mike and El completely forgetting they were not alone. 

Mike started to blush and nodded.

“Okay, let’s go grab our stuff,” Dustin said and at that, they moved to go back inside Mike’s house.

Will grabbed his backpack and Mike grabbed El’s tote bag and left to get his own backpack.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Byers and Mrs. Wheeler were saying goodbye at the door.

“Bye El. Will, honey if you need anything just call me from the pool office phone, okay?” Mrs. Byers said and kissed both Will and El’s forehead in a sweet gesture.

As soon as the boys and Max came back they started walking to the community pool, not bothering with their bikes as it was close to Mike’s house.

Mike and El walked behind everyone talking in hushed voices and their pink fingers curled together. Mike was having a hard time focusing on El’s questions about the current book she was reading. Huckleberry Finn, she blushed every time she asked questions because she always felt like she was dumb but Mike reassured her that she was doing great and he was proud of her.

“Hell yeah! We are here!” Dustin said and he twirled around catching Lucas holding Max’s hand, which they both dropped as soon as Dustin turned around. Both of them blushing and not looking at each other as Will just looked amused.

“El lets go in and change,” Max said as she grabbed El’s wrist and broke them out of their El and Mike bubble.

As they made their way to the girl’s changing room Mike looked at Lucas, Will, and Dustin and they all shrugged at Max’s sudden departure, she was most likely embarrassed as she and Lucas had not yet defined their weird friendship yet.

Meanwhile, El looked at Max with a concerned look on her face as they waited for the changing rooms to free up.

“Max? Are you okay?” She asked.

“Oh El! I don’t want to seem like such a sappy girl but ugh! Lucas has yet to ask me out officially.” Max said heat rising to her cheeks.

“Oh,” El said, she was unsure what to really say. Mike and she were so different with each other and she trusted him and he trusted her and they just had such an open friendship and relationship.

“Should I be the one to ask him out? I mean I already kissed him first. But what if he doesn’t like me like that? I really don’t know what to do, maybe I shou-” Max said but El interrupted her.

“No,” El said and Max just stared at her.

“No, what El?!” Max said frustrated, she knew El’s speech was still not great but she was really frustrated at the moment to care.

“No at what you are thinking. Lucas really likes you. Promise.” She said and Max visibly relaxed.  
As Max was about to answer El, one changing room opened and a girl and her mom walked out.

El walked in and closed the door and Max stood waiting for her.

“You know what, yeah he does like me because he always stalked me before. Thanks, El, you rock.” Max said as she stood waiting for El to change.

“Welcome,” El replied.

El finished changing and was folding her clothes so she could place them inside her new tote bag that Joyce had picked out for her.

She looked up and surveyed herself in the mirror. She remembered she had been shocked when Joyce had helped her pick swimsuits. Not because she was self-conscious like other girls her age but because Joyce and Nancy had made it perfectly clear that you couldn’t go around showing or wearing just undergarments. 

But Joyce had explained that with swimsuits it was okay and Joyce had thrown into her ‘try on’ pile two-piece swimsuits that she had never seen. She had only seen one-piece swimsuits, which Max, Erica, and Holly wore.

As she stared at her reflection she saw how pretty she looked. The top of her ‘Bikini’, as Joyce had called the swimsuit, was like her tank tops but finished under her breasts. It was pale pink with tiny white flowers and the bottoms looked like her underwear but with the same print from her top.

She shrugged at her reflection not really understanding the difference between underwear and swimsuits they were practically the same! But she trusted Will’s mom to lead her the right way.

She grabbed her bag and opened the door finding Max with her back to the door.

“Done,” She said and Max turned around and when she saw what El was wearing she started laughing.

El frowned, now she felt self-conscious.

Max noticed and stopped laughing.

“Sorry El, I’m not laughing at you, I promise. Its just Wheeler is going to flip!” She said and then started to crack up again and went into the changing room.

“Mike? He won’t like it?” She asked Max looking towards her top and bottoms, she liked the color and thought maybe Mike would like it as well.

“Oh no El, he’s going to love it,” Max said.

El smiled to herself but was still confused at why Max laughed. Especially if Mike was going to like her swimsuit as much as she did. 

Max quickly finished and walked out grabbing El’s hand and guided them outside towards the pool.

Mike had been eager to feel the water under his fingers as well as help El out. He also subconsciously wanted to feel El pressed against his side. 

The boys had quickly gone in, took their shirts off and went outside to find pool chairs and wait for the girls.

“So, Mike, how’s it going with El?” Dustin asked curious to know how his friends were doing.

“Oh you know, good. She’s still with her tutor and hopefully, she can join us for high school!” He said happily.

“That’s going to be so cool! Having our awesome El with us!” Dustin exclaimed and Will and Lucas agreed.

“Do you think she’ll want to be part of the AV club?” Will asked and Mike nodded because he hoped they could be together after school. He could help her with her English homework and sit next to her.

Lucas looked up at the sun and suddenly asked, “So you guys gonna put sunscreen on? Cause the sun looks like it’ll roast skin today.”

They all agreed and went to apply sunscreen when Lucas looked up and cursed.

“Shit!” 

They all turned around and saw as Max and El stepped out of the girl’s changing room.

Lucas had exclaimed at how beautiful Max looked in her fire red swimsuit. 

At first, he wanted to go up and kiss her but when he saw how most of the boys their age, excluding his friends, of course, had whipped around to see her and El he wanted to grab her and cover her up in his towel. 

But he knew she would probably beat him up if he tried to and she would have all the right to do that because he had been a wimp and had not asked her out yet. But looking at how all the other boys looked at her, he decided that he would ask her out before the day was over.

Mike who had been applying sunscreen to his legs had not noticed Max and El coming out until he heard Lucas curse.

When he raised his eyesight he caught Max and then El and his heart went into overdrive.

Goosebumps spread through his body and he could feel heat pool into his cheeks and down in his stomach. Butterflies, his sister had called the feeling in his stomach and he laughed now as he felt that and much more.

She was a vision of long legs and pale milky soft skin. He had only seen some of this now exposed skin in his dreams and his imagination had done her no justice. 

He really didn’t want to be a creep but come on! She was walking up to him in a two-piece, which clearly defined her beauty. 

He had noticed that she was now so different than the twelve-year-old she had once been. She now looked like the girls on TV, with their shiny hair and slim figures, with curves in all the right places.

He froze, now was not the moment as he felt more heat pool in his stomach. He desperately thought of the fear he had felt without her and thanked God that he stopped himself from embarrassment.

“Hi,” She said as she stopped in front of him.

He gulped, his mouth suddenly dry.

“Pretty?” She whispered and became self-conscious all over again as he stood silently in front of her.

“Beautiful,” he answered and slowly reached up to cup her cheek, they both started leaning in when Dustin and Will groaned.

“Guys, please! Just get the sunscreen on and let’s go! I want to play chicken!” Dustin said and he and Will grabbed Max and Lucas while giving El and Mike a look.

“Y- yeah, sunscreen. Did you bring some?” He asked El.

She nodded and turned around to where she dropped her bag and bent down to get it. She quickly grabbed it and turned around as Mike groaned and cover his face.

“Mike?” She asked.

“Sorry, I just.” He said but had no words came out, he wasn’t trying to be a perv but she just bent down and he tried to quickly avert his eyes but he just couldn’t.

“Sunscreen?” She asked him and he grabbed it from her hands and quickly applied it to her back, ignoring the feeling of her skin on his fingertips.

He would definitely be focusing on the feeling of her skin later when he was alone in his dark bedroom. Now he would not go there because he was out in a public space.

Once they were done, he grabbed El’s hand and walked with her to the shallow part. 

El was tense, her hand gripping his and so he murmured words of encouragement and she listened feeling like Mike would always be there to make her feel comfortable and safe.

As soon as her waist was submerged she felt relief from the sun and was laughing at how good the water felt. It was as though the negative energy bounced right out of her body, she quickly submerged the rest of her body and quickly rose up. She felt the water glide down her head in small droplets.

She was a vision of beauty as Mike looked at her. Beads of water rolled down from her hairline, down her long dark lashes, past her lush pink lips and trailed down her neck and disappearing into her swimsuit top. He took a deep breath and counted himself lucky to have her in his life. 

He was so focused on her joy that he let Will and Dustin break them apart as they included her in their game of tag. Knowing that they would further help break the tension she still felt.

He noticed that the community pool was not very crowded but he also noticed how some of his classmates were staring at both Max and El and how some of the girls were glaring at them.

He felt a surge of anger towards both male and female attention. They didn’t even know El and they were already judging her.

He jumped when he felt a hand grip his arm and he turned to find Rebecca from his science class standing beside him.

“Hey Mike,” She said and smiled.

“Hey Rebecca, how are you?” He asked politely, she was still holding his arm.

“Mhmm, I’m okay. So are you ready for High School? I am so excited.” Rebecca said blinking rapidly.

“Yeah. So who are you here with.” Mike asked he wasn’t super good at the whole social aspect.

“Oh, with my little sister, she’s right there,” Rebecca said and pointe towards the kiddie pool.

“Cool,” Mike said and he flinched when Rebecca’s hand brushed his collarbone.

“I didn’t know your freckles went to your neck and chest.” She said tracing his skin.

Mike wanted to suddenly break away but he relaxed when he felt El’s presence beside him. 

“Mike, can we go home?” El said but he was too preoccupied with how she had wrapped her arms around his other arm and he felt her chest pressed against him.

He nodded without a sound and Rebecca looked irritated with El’s sudden presence.

“Um, bye Rebecca,” he said and El yanked him towards their belongings.

Mike was still in a daze as he followed El. She had grabbed her bag and Mike trailed behind her watching her hips sway away.

He snapped out of it when he heard a lady tell him he was in the wrong changing room.

He quickly apologized and ran towards the other changing room.

He changed quickly and found El outside wearing some shorts and a cute blouse. As soon as she saw him she started to walk to his house and he was confused by her behavior.

“El?” He asked but she kept walking faster.  
“Mike! Dude, where are you guys going?” Lucas yelled behind the metal fence, his hands gripping the holes.

Mike turned around and looked at Lucas and shrugged unsure of what his answer would be.

When he turned around El was farther away from him. He took off running, trying to catch up to her but as he ran fast it seemed that her feet were barely touching the ground as she walked faster.

He stopped running feeling out of breath and had to bend down to catch his breath.

He had no idea what was going on with El and he realized that maybe El was having her monthly time. 

He saw in the distance as she turned towards his cul de sac and he knew she would be safe at his house.

It took him 5 minutes to get to his house and he was met with his mother’s worried stare.

“Mom, did El come in yet?” He asked feeling slightly nervous for some reason.

But his mom had no time to answer as Hopper’s truck scarily parked in the Wheeler’s driveway.

“Wha-,” Mike said but was stopped when he saw an angry Chief Hopper come out of his car.

“Dad!” A hushed voice said as he saw El’s body zip by him, he caught a look at her face and was shocked by what he found there.

Her face was cherry red with tears trailing down her face and he was immediately concerned. What if something had happened when he was talking to his classmate.

“El, what’s wrong?” he half-yelled as he moved towards the side passenger door but stopped when Chief Hopper’s voice yelled at him.

“I swear on all that’s holy Wheeler that if you’ve done something to her, I will make sure your parent’s ground you!” The chief yelled as he looked at Michael Wheeler and briefly made eye contact with Karen Wheeler.

Mike stood dumbfounded as he watched El’s small form hunched over and crying as Chief soothed her back.

“MICHAEL WHEELER, WHAT DID YOU DO?” His mother yelled at him.  
~Later~ 

After his mother had sat him down and he had explained that he had done absolutely nothing to El and that he was unsure of why she was crying his mother compromised and said she would give the Chief a call tomorrow to try to figure out what was wrong.

He was currently in bed and he had tried very unsuccessfully to reach El with his SuperCom. It was like she didn’t want to know anything about him and he felt like he was going crazy. This was much worse than when she was lost because now he knew where she was and that she didn’t want to talk to him.

Lucas, Dustin, Will, and Max had tried to come to his house after they stayed at the pool but his mother had told them to go home since he was grounded.

Technically he wasn’t grounded until his mom found out if he had cause El’s emotional breakdown.

He also didn’t want to speak to the guys so he turned his SuperCom off and rolled on to his stomach and fell asleep.

 

Overwhelming sadness was what he felt first which shocked him because he wasn’t the one who was feeling this.

He heard her then, her soft sobs and then he saw her, it was like he was creating the image in void this time.

He felt tears in his own eyes and then her body stopped moving, it was like she had felt his own sadness.

Mike felt her emotion outpour then, the sadness, the anger, and the jealousy.

Now it all made sense.

“Why are you happy!” She screamed at him as she turned around, he felt the anger pulse out of her.

He blinked, finding himself relax, and it dawned on him why she had run out of the pool in the first place.

He moved towards her and she backed away.

“I didn’t invite you in, how did you get in?” She asked tears returning and he wished he could hug her.

“El, it’s like I felt you calling me.”

“Why, Mike? Why!” She screamed again, this time rushing forward and hitting his chest.

They both froze.

They felt their equal shock as her tiny fist collided with his chest.

El temporarily lost focus of her anger. Her lips parting in shock as Mike quickly entranced by her touch he dove into her lips. 

They both pressed against each other, his lips in passion, hers in anger.

His arms snaked around her body against her back, hers sneaking up his neck and pulling his hair roughly. As he quickly parted their lips to breath in air he was shoved back, falling on his bottom.

“What the!” He exclaimed as he saw El levitating.

“You can’t kiss me, Mike! You, you let her…” She trailed off as she slowly touched the ground.

“El, no!” He said devastated that she was pushing him away. That she might revoke his privilege to call himself her boyfriend.

“No what?! No What!” She cried.

“Rebecc-” He started but she stopped him.

“I DON’T care about HER name,” El said feeling hate towards the blonde that had been talking to Mike.

“Um, she’s just a classmate.” He explained.

“Then why was she touching you?” She said, her voice now calmer but he felt it then, her insecurities.

“Um, I don’t know. She never even talked to me before, she was creeping me out.” He answered her and El felt it there, the crawly feeling he had when he talked about the awful girl that was touching her Mike.

“Promise?” She said shyly, still hurt by the image of another girl touching his freckled skin.

He walked slowly towards her and reached to touch her cheek, drying a tear that was rolling down her face.

“Promise.” He stated as he bend down to capture her lush full lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh fyi, I love reading other ST fics, what are some of your favorites?


	9. Orientation: High School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summer is ending and El is going to her high school orientation. Also some fluff thrown in there if you really squeeze your eyes lol

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Hi :)
> 
> Sorry I've been away for a long while! Life sometimes complicates things ya know.
> 
> Anyways here is a new chapter. Hope you like it and let me know what you think!

Orientation: High School

El had been more nervous than ever, she had tried on different outfits all morning long. Going from pink dresses to acid washed jeans to shorts to dresses again.

Mike and she had been having so much fun in the void lately, always touching, holding hands and far too little kisses for her taste. It had seemed that Mike had gone rather reserved since they found out they could now touch and feel in the void. She was puzzled as to why he didn’t deepen their kisses or why he kept his hands on her head and not on her waist. 

She shook her head as if to vanish the thoughts and looked into the mirror once again. Her hair was held back by two clips in the shape of butterflies. Her body was being framed with overall shorts and one of Mike’s t-shirt. She had stolen it a couple weeks back and she had laughed when he had noticed in the void and stuttered his hello. A pretty pink gracing his cheeks which she was sure matched her cheeks as well.

She decided to stick to this outfit, having struggled to make sure he hair wasn’t ruffled and messed up with everything that she had tried on. She checked her nightstand to see the bright red lights light up a 10 followed by dots and 54. Okay, Hopper was due to pick her up at 11:50 so she could go to orientation. She was so excited not only would she be joining her friends but they would all experience it for the first time and she was glad that all her friends were sharing this with her. The unknown for all of them was high school and what that would bring.

She wasn’t naïve enough now to think that it would be like in her favorite soaps, where she would be popular along with her friends. She really didn’t care if she was liked by mouth breathers but she was excited to meet more people. She wanted to go to school and for once be normal and learn all there was to learn. She wanted to learn how to write properly so she could write Mike love letters. She wanted so many things but she knew that everything would fall into place eventually. 

She moved to the living room area and flicked the TV on with her mind, skipping through channels until she found the morning news. She waited for the news people to talk until the weather segment appeared and she smiled as she saw the weather was going to remain rather hot for the rest of the week. School started the following Monday so she mentally started to pair different tops with jeans, leggings, and dresses.

She was startled out of her thoughts by the sound of heavy footsteps and waited to hear the special knock. She quickly threw open the door and saw Hopper standing there, “Come on Kid, let’s get you your starter pack from Hawkins High.”

She nodded and walked towards him and letting him lead her to where his car was stationed.

“So, Kid. You ready for this?” Hooper’s voice laced with worry.

She nodded her head and looked up at him. “More than ready.”

She settled into the passenger seat with the window rolled down. Her face seeking the sunshine that it had missed when she was hiding even though she was allowed to go out now she still loved feeling the heat on her skin. It was everything that the Upside down was not, warm and clean and just so much more. 

Hopper gazed at her, his mustache twitching with a smile on his lips. 

Happy. She looked so happy and he was glad he was able to provide this for her. She had just been a child who had been ripped and stripped of her innocence and he was glad he could at least give her happiness. 

They rode in complete silence the only sounds were those of the humming of the radio and the quietness of the small town.

Once they reached the school grounds her eyes popped wide open. She could hear the music blasting from someone’s car. The giggles and enthusiastic shouts of friends who had missed each other during summer.

“Christ, Kid. Look at all this.” Hopper said a frown now etched on his face.

She gently placed her hand on his arm and his frown vanished.

“It’s okay. I can handle it.” She said with power and conviction in her limber voice. 

In that moment Hopper looked at her and gaped that she no longer was this child he had her be in his head. She was starting to act like a mature young woman, his eyes traced her sun-kissed face and he smiled softly. She had lost the roundness in her face and he had no idea how he had missed that she was growing up. 

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He said and parked in the spot reserved for the Police.

They both stepped out of the vehicle and Hopper joined El or now to be known in public as “Jane”.

There was a sign with arrows pointing to the orientation stations.

Before Hopper could say anything, he saw his daughter bounce on her feet as her friends made their way to where they were standing. 

El felt her body hum with happiness she spied all her friends coming to greet her and Hopper.

“Jane!” They all said in unison and for a moment El was struck with confusion until she remembered that she would now be called Jane in public.

Dustin’s eyes crinkled up as he snickered.

“You forgot!” Dustin said still snickering but Lucas shoved his elbow into his side, “Hey!”

El nodded and heat burst from her cheeks. Mike stood there looking at her and thanking his lucky stars that El was going to be sharing school with them. He jumped when he heard a throat clearing and he looked down feeling himself blush as Hopper was probably staring at him.

“Jane, are you ready to go inside?” Max asked grabbing El’s hand and looking at the Chief with a look that said, “Just do your part”.

The hallways were bigger then the Middle School Hallways was the first thing El thought but that quickly left when she saw all the kids trying to get through.

She felt the curious stares of these strangers she would call classmates.

“Don’t worry they’re all curious to see who the new freshmen are.” Max murmured into her ear. 

El nodded and let Max guide her towards the door labeled GYM.

She felt the hum of electricity in the air and turned her face to see her Mike following close behind. His eyes were glued to her bare legs and she giggled causing his face to turn bright red.

Hopper was looking at everyone and everything missing the little display of embarrassment that Mike had a custom of doing lately. His mind was on noting that if anyone would recognize El as something other than a teenager in high school.

“Chief! There you are! We have been dying to meet her! Where is she?” The school secretary asked looking for his adoptive daughter.

“Hi, Telma. Jane?” Hopper asked and he saw his daughter part ways from the group to come stand next to him. Her friends moved closer still leaving space for the Chief and the school secretary to talk.

“Oh, my she’s beautiful! Hi, I’m Ms. Rowland and I am one of the school secretaries.” The school secretary said as she held her hand out.

El tentatively shook the woman's hand and looked up at Hopper to see what she would need to do next.

“She’s a shy one I see! But I see she’s also made friends. That’s great! I think it would be easier for her if I assign her new school buddy with one of her friends so a group instead of pairs.” Ms. Rowland said to Hopper.

“School Buddy? What is that?” Hopper asked feeling overwhelmed.

“So 9th graders get to have an 11th grade buddy to help them out but in Jane’s case she could be paired up with one of her friends and an 11th grader.” Mrs. Rowland explained.

“Great, who would you like to be paired with Jane?” Hopper asked and he regretted not making the decision ones she saw her point towards Michael Wheeler.

“Oh great! Michael has a great record so no trouble there! I’ll just need to go coordinate this later. So you can pick her up at 4:30 pm.” Ms. Rowland said and made a move to leave.

“Leave Jane? No sorry, I think you’re confused we are here to pick up her Freshmen packet.” Hopper explained.

“Oh no this is orientation, they will get that once they leave. They’ll be given a tour and their locker information as well as an assembly. Most parents just dropped their kids off or let them walk to school since today is for the future students.” Ms. Rowland explained.

Hopper nodded and shook the secretary’s hand and turned to El as Ms. Rowland left.

“Okay Kid, I had no idea that this was like this so I’ll go back to the station. You can go Joyce’s house after, I’ll let her know.” Hopper said and he turned to the other kids.

“You know the rules, Don’t be Stupid. And make sure to take care of her. I’m counting on all of you, especially you Wheeler.” Hopper said. He gave them a look over as they nodded and left.

“Dude your old man is so strict.” El heard Max say and a group of girls about their age passed them and giggled pointing at her.

“Don’t pay them any attention Jane, they’re freaks,” Max said making a face when she said, Jane. Still not used to El's public name.

“Guys let’s go to the auditorium, the assembly will start soon.” Will said and as soon as he finished the intercom announced that they need to go there for the orientation assembly.

El looked up at the ceiling and laughed. She left Mike’s pressed as he stepped next to her and whispered into her ear.

“There are speakers up there, it’s just like the SuperCom but for the whole school to hear announcements.” Mike smiled down at her and she laughed again a question burning on her tongue.

“Bell?” She asked using her one worded sentence.

“Yeah, bell,” Mike affirmed and they made their way to the auditorium together with their friends all around them as if to create an invisible shield unconsciously. 

They quickly found a row in the middle of the place and sat together. Lucas and Max talking loudly and laughing followed by El and Mike how kept gazing at one another with a quiet Will listening to Dustin’s plans for the new school year.

The assembly started with a “Welcome, Welcome to Hawkins High!” 

And ended with a hearty “Let’s make this year Great!”

Wow, El was already super pumped. Dustin had stolen her from Mike’s side and he was currently talking like he was crazy about the new school year. He was leading her and all their friends to the front of the school where they would be taken by groups on a tour and given their locker combinations.

They were taken around all Hawkins High and she had seen the cafeteria, the indoor pool, the art room, the different halls and the fields outside. She was excited and all her friends were displaying the same energy.

As soon as they got back into the part of the school where the freshmen locker were located Dustin got his first followed by Max who was at the end of the hallway.

“Jane Hopper? Please follow me, here is your locker R032.” Their tour guide, a quiet Senior who was very nice said and, gave El her locker comb.

El opened her locker and smiled at her friends and their guide.

“Great job Jane. Okay next is Michael Wheeler. You are just a couple next over. Your locker is R028.” Mike beamed at their luck and quickly opened his locker, thanking their guide for her help and the guide blushed and moved on to the next locker for Will.

El was still looking into her locker so she was slightly startled when Mike softly closed her locker and gently turned her so her back was pressed against it.

In this position, El marveled at their height difference. She hadn’t really noticed all summer long but now, here in the brightly lit hallway, with his hand pressed beside her head and his body towering over her she felt herself fizzle with heat. Not anything that made her want to kiss him but with the kind of heat that called itself home, the kind of heat that her Mike could only ignite in her heart. He was warmth and freedom, she had mistaken the sun as what she sought when she was out in Hopper’s car in the morning, it was her Mike that gave her the ability to push herself harder than anyone before and he did not ask this of her it was born out of the love she had for him.

She could remember how he had paced outside of the doors to her exam room at Hawkins Middle school, waiting for her to finish and them waiting with her outside the main office so they could know her scores. Hopper had joined them for that and had argued that he should sit and stop making everyone nervous. He had been there when she crumpled down on the floor when they had told her she had passed her exams and that she would be going on to High School. Yeah, she had to be in remedial Math but she didn’t care, Mike would help her, her friends would help her.

She had been so deep in her thoughts that she felt Mike’s finger on her chin, lifting her face up to see him.

“Mike?” She softly asked.

“El...” He whispered softly so only they both could hear ash he brought down his mouth to kiss her.

She burst into giddiness as he kissed her thoroughly, not reserving his happiness or his want of her mouth on his.

“Look it’s frog face and he found himself a girlfriend.” Troy their Middle school bully taunted. 

Their friends that had been trying to give them privacy ran up next to them.

Troy had a little group of angry looking kids with him.

“This is the nerd herd I kept telling you about.” Troy gloated to his new friends they walked up to where the others were standing.

Mike moved to stand in front of El making himself stand up straight, Troy’s eyes rounded out as if he could not believe that frog face had grown to be way taller than him.

He looked behind and at Mike and noted that all the little kids he tormented in Middle school had grown over the Summer. Even the fairy boy Will had grown and was taller than toothless. And Midnight was standing rather protectively in front of the fiery redhead. 

Troy knew that he would not get to hurt any of them today and this angered him more. He would try to find them individually and vulnerable. He would not let them befool him. 

Troy signaled with his head and they retreated.

“Wow, guys that was new,” Dustin stated as he stared at the back of Troy's head.

“Yeah.” Will, Lucas, and Mike agreed in shock.

Max looked bored and checked her watch.

“Let’s go home guys orientation is over!” Max exclaimed with happiness.

They all nodded and El followed them to were their bikes were with Max’s skateboard.

“Um, I’ll take Max home,” Lucas said his cheeks pink with blush causing even El to laugh.

“Let’s go stalker,” Max said equally embarrassed by his announcement but smiling. 

Will, Dustin, and Mike hopped onto their bikes and Mike looked at El and nodded his head back.

“Hop on Hopper.” His eyes crinkling with mirth.

El laughed and joined him on his bike, pressing her cheek against his back and wrapping her hands around his waist.

If school was going to be even one tiny bit of what orientation was El was sure she was going to be having fun all year long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll try to update this more often but I'm going through some stuff right now so please be patient with me. Your comments really motivate me though!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for all your comments and kudos!


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